Butler's first section home-and-home baseball matchup yielded a sweep of Allderdice.

But Wednesday's game proved far different from the Golden Tornado's 12-2 victory on Tuesday.

In the rematch, Butler managed just two hits and relied heavily on the pitching of starter Madden Clement and reliever Jack Beneigh in claiming a 2-1 victory at Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park.

“A lot of it came down to a lack of focus at the plate,” said Butler coach Josh Forbes of his team's latest offensive effort. “We got the win, though, and that's the most important thing.”

Mattix Clement, Butler's leadoff hitter, tallied both of his team's hits. He began the bottom of the first with a double, moved to third on David Leslie's fly out and scored on a passed ball. Cooper Baxter, who drew a one-out walk, later scored on a wild pitch from Allderdice starter Robbie Gilbert.

Mattix Clement singled in the second and moved to second base on the throw, but Gilbert stranded runners at second and third.

The Tornado were held scoreless and hitless over the final four innings.

“We weren't fully locked in today and swung at some bad pitches,” Mattix said. “We can turn that around, though. We just need to enter the next game with a lot of energy and be locked in from the start.”

Madden Clement allowed the Dragons' one run in the top of the second. Evan Carter and Tyler Shapiro tallied consecutive one-out singles. With two outs, Eli Copich singled home Carter before Clement struck out Winston Rouse to leave runners at first and second.

Madden worked five innings, striking out six and walking one while allowing five hits. Jack Beneigh pitched the final two innings for Butler (3-1, 2-0), striking out four and surrendering one hit.

“Madden has great execution of his three pitches,” said Forbes. “He can throw his fastball, curveball and change-up for strikes. We have a ton of trust in him and Jack coming out of the pen.”

Gilbert also pitched five innings, striking out three and walking five. Evan Carter pitched a scoreless sixth frame for the Dragons (0-2, 0-2).

“(Gilbert) kept the ball down and that was a big reason why we held them to just two runs,” said Allderdice coach Rick Napoleon. “One thing he does need to work on is his strike percentage. He went deep into a lot of counts today.”

Despite the loss, Napoleon was pleased with his team's effort, especially after losing to Butler by 10 runs the day before.

“We got a late start,” he said. “Tuesday was our first game of the season and we weren't able to get in any team workouts over the winter because of COVID.

“Tuesday's game was a huge disappointment for us,” added Napoleon, “but we're a very young team. Six players made their first varsity start for us in that game. We're not a joke. Teams that play us, they'll have to take a win from us because we're not going to give it to them.”

Allderdice 010 000 0 — 1 6 1

Butler 200 000 x — 2 2 0

W: Madden Clement 5 IP (6K, 1BB). L: Robbie Gilbert 5IP (3K, 5BB). S: Jack Beneigh 2 IP (4K, 0BB).

Allderdice (0-2, 0-2): Evan Carter 2-1B R, Eli Copich 1B RBI

Butler (3-1, 2-0): Mattix Clement 1B 2B R

Friday: Butler at Gateway